Here are my five cents about animancy, unsolicited, of course.
The best portrayal of the soul studies still belongs to Pillars of Eternity.
In PoE, animancy is presented as a dangerous discipline capable of granting immense power or corrupting the soul. The methods used to achieve breakthroughs are often deeply inhuman. The Sanitarium is a prime example: the treatment of its patients is horrifying, yet closely mirrors the way medicine and medical institutions evolved over centuries in the real world.
Then there’s the Devil of Caroc. Her soul literally imprisoned in a piece of metal, without her consent, sold off to a madman obsessed with his own ego. There are wichts. There are engwithans.
At the same time, animancy is shown to be profoundly useful. It has the potential to solve enormous problems not just in Dyrwood, but across all of Eora. It could help people suffering from Awakenings, or even prevent Watchers from eventually succumbing to madness. Food shortages, spiritual afflictions, maladies of the soul - these are all problems animancy might address.
Pillars of Eternity succeeds because it presents animancy as both beneficial and horrifying, useful and brutal - a balance that feels appropriate for any emerging scientific discipline.
Deadfire engages with animancy far less deeply. Yes, we encounter Vailian researchers conducting experiments (including at least one genuinely unhinged project), but the game rarely explores the moral ambiguity of the field. The most significant contribution comes from Eothas himself, who advocates for animancy’s development. He believes it will allow the kith to rebuild the Wheel or create something better in its place.
And then the game simply… stops there. We’re never given the chance to meaningfully argue with him or fully endorse his vision. We can’t even point out the obvious irony: animancers were the ones who created the gods of Eora in the first place. There’s nothing preventing a new generation of animancers from pursuing power again by creating a new pantheon or bending the existing gods to someone else’s will.
Avowed, meanwhile, portrays animancers as a roguish, lovable community of scholars who fled the Vailian Republics (because they were too strict, or perhaps too corporate). They are led by a Skaenite and establish their own town in the Living Lands. It’s a cool premise, but one that could have been far darker and more interesting than what we ultimately get.
There’s a man who sets himself on fire. There’s a pair of scientists trying to patent research into enlarging men’s cocks. People engage in philosophical debates right there in the streets.
These scholars feel largely detached from the farmers who are struggling to keep their crops alive in the wake of the Dreamscourge. That tension should matter, but it never develops. The game doesn’t explore the contrast between scholars and farmers - between those who invent and those who must feed both the inventors and themselves.
The darkest moment we get is the story of Giatta’s parents, which is disturbing as hell, but we cant do much about it. We aren’t even given the option to challenge Elia on the ethics of using dead people as farmhands. The player has no option to confront or question the beliefs and methods of the people surrounding the Envoy.
Fior was a disappointment. Not a single questionable situation, not a single Skaenite plot.
My point isn’t that animancy is "good" or "bad." What I want is for Obsidian to return to their roots: to bring back meaningful in-game debate, to let the player engage in conversations with NPCs about animancy and its consequences. I want more layered narratives, even if they’re gloomy or uncomfortable.
